


Jack + Glowstick+ Phone

by EWM



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Whump, Gen, Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Bromance, Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) Whump, Mac and Jack - Freeform, Poor Jack Dalton (Macgyver 2016), Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26636080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM
Summary: Written for day 4 of @septembermacgyverwhump, Jack Dalton AU/Canon Divergent. I struggled to come up with something for this so I decided to go mega dark. Happy reading and enjoy!
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Matilda "Matty" Webber (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

Dalton woke up with a start smashing his head into the ceiling above him, but wait that wasn’t right, his ceilings weren’t that low. He moved again, he was in total darkness, carefully he moved his hands, he felt the walls around him, they were smooth, machine made, they felt plastic. He stretched his long legs out, he groaned loudly, something was wrong with his right foot, it had to be broken. You didn’t get pain like that from a twisted ankle. His moved his feet down, shuffling slowly, they tapped another wall just at the base of him. Jack didn’t really want to think about what was happening to him, even though part of his brain had already worked it out. What he did instead was move slowly back to his original position and began to check for any other injuries. His head was starting to throb in multiple places, when had woken up he managed to bang his head so hard that he’d cut himself, he could feel what he was pretty sure was blood trickling down his face and he could feel a lump forming on the back of his head as well. His hands felt raw as if they had dozens of little cuts on them, all on the palms and his fingers ached. He ran his hand down his left leg, surprisingly his sidearm was still there. He pulled it out carefully and it was loaded. Why would someone give him a gun? A loaded gun? Again a thought that he pushed to the back of his mind. He continued to move his hands around, he could feel a series of long sticks, what were they? He picked up one of the sticks and carefully felt around them, they felt like one of those things you had a fireworks displays, what were they called ? those crappy toys kids played with? Glow sticks? What the hell, Jack thought, he was going to need some light if he was going to get out of here, wherever here was. He undid the cap and started to shake the stick but he needn’t have bothered, as held the stick up a fluorescent light came on from his feet and a voice came out of nowhere

_“Ooops Mr Dalton, you’ve just wasted a glow stick, I really wouldn’t do that if I were you. You’re going to need those, you’re not going anywhere and the supply won’t last forever.”_

The voice was male and kind of sing song, maybe altered by a machine. More to the point, the light confirmed Jack’s worst fears, he was trapped in a plastic box…a coffin. He had been buried alive in a coffin.

_“Who are you? You psychotic son-of-a-bitch? Why have you put me here?”_

_“Now, now Mr Dalton, manners, manners, didn’t your mother teach you to be polite to strangers? Although are we strangers though? Difficult to know, I mean this whole situation is quite intimate you know? Me singing in you ear, still no excuse to be rude to me. Manners, manners Mr Dalton”_

_“What the fuck do you want, you psychopath?”_

_“Me I don’t want anything, no that’s not quite true, I want to learn, I want to learn everything. Understand everything and you Mr Dalton, you’re so interesting, all your adventures, so exciting, you’ve escaped death so many times. You..”_

_“Whey the fuck am I here?”_

_“Why are you here? I was getting to that Mr Dalton; you really must mind your manners. Politeness is everything Mr Dalton. You are here as I was saying because you’ve escaped death Mr Dalton, you’ve done it one too many times, but now death has come knocking, he’s tired of being dodged you know. He’s coming knock, knocking for you and the whole world is going to be watching you…”_ The voice trailed off and suddenly it was gone.

Dalton screamed in frustration, but promptly stopped as he heard the earth packed around the box shake. Jack’s heart was in his chest, he began to hyperventilate, and his headache was starting to get worse, too many bashes to the head might have given him concussion, part of him desperately wanted to vomit, he wanted to panic so badly. His worst fears were really happening, his nightmares were actually happening, he was being buried alive, he was trapped in a coffin. At least there was no fire this time he thought bitterly, but there was no Mac this time either. Mac didn’t know where he was, he didn’t even know he was missing and Jack didn’t know how to reach him. Surely Mac would figure it out though surely? He’d work it out somehow? When Jack didn’t show up for work or didn’t call him? Didn’t send him a message? Surely someone would realise somewhere, he was trapped and couldn’t fight his way out, someone would have to look for him, someone had to come for him, didn’t they???

****

Unfortunately Jack was at least partly right, Mac had no notion that Jack was in any kind of trouble other than perhaps a hangover, when Mac had woken up that morning, his most immediate thoughts had been having a shower and trying not to vomit which he had just about managed. After his head stopped throbbing, his thoughts did turn to Jack, he smiled as he recalled the night before, everyone had come to his house, there had been a lot of food, Bozer had been feeling generous and adventurous; something about apple flavoured pastrami and chocolate coffee ices with cheese. That was where there the vomiting had come in Mac had thought, he shuddered at the memory and of course there had been plenty of beer. But it had been a happy night, lots of karaoke, a demented game of charades and dancing, so much dancing all over the porch. The music had got so loud at one point, one of his neighbours had actually knocked on the door and complained. Mac had answered putting on his best boy scout face while trying not giggle as the others hid behind the door.

Eventually everyone had departed, and Mac had passed out in a fuzzy haze of alcoholic contentment. But work was now calling and he had to get himself to Phoenix, before Matty yelled at him, something his own head couldn’t cope with this morning. He made it there surprisingly fast, perhaps he wasn’t the only one with a hangover this morning as the building was pretty much empty. He met Matty on the way in though, of course she was never late, hangover or not. They grinned at each other, but didn’t say much. As they walked into the war room there was a package on the desk with Mac’s name on it. They both stopped

 _“Don’t touch it Mac”_ Matty said, an automatic response with Mac just for safety

_“I wasn’t going to”_

_“I mean it. We don’t know what we’re dealing with, I need to get a team in here, back away...back away from the”_ Matty didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as the box started to ring. Mac raced towards it

 _“Don’t do it !”_ Matty warned

 _“We don’t know what will happen if I don’t pick it up. I’ve got no choice.”_ Mac opened the box and grabbed the ringing phone.

_“Who’s this?”_

_“Mac!”_ Dalton screeched, he wanted to weep with relief

_“Jack? What’s happened? Why are you calling me? Where are you?”_

_“Look man, something happened to me last night, something real bad. I woke up in a box, I’m stuck, I can barely see, I’m trapped in a coffin…Mac I can barely move.”_ Jack’s words tumbled out of him.

_“Look Jack slow down, tell me again, you’re trapped in a box? What happened exactly?”_

_“Someone grabbed me last night after the party. I woke up in a plastic box. I’m struggling to breath, I think my ankle’s broken, there’s some crazy guy on the end of the line ranting about how I cheated death too many times. Mac he’s buried me in a coffin.”_

Mac’s heart stopped for a millisecond, he knew that being buried alive was one of Jack’s few fears. Memories of pulling Jack out of a burning coffin, not so long ago flashed in his mind. He shook his head pushing them aside

_“Listen to me Jack, calm down. Tell me everything you see. I’m going to get you out of this.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is still trapped in a plastic box and team rallies to help him. Originally written for @septemberwhump.This new chapter is in honour of day 4 whumptober (the theme was buried alived/caged). Comments and feedback welcome.

Mac listened to everything Jack told him, the plastic box, the lights, the glowsticks, the voice and wracked his brain, nothing Jack really gave him helped him at all. All Mac could hear was the desperation in Jack’s voice, the panic. Mac did his best to hide his own horror and sooth Jack

_“Okay, Jack run me through last night, after the party. Where did you go? What did you do?”_

_“I don’t know man, I just got into my car and left, it was pretty wild last night and I wasn’t exactly sober, but I could drive man. I got home and I remember walking towards my door, but it was hard to focus and then it all went black and I woke up here.”_

_“Alright that’s a start, the assailant whoever they are probably took you there. They might have drugged you or knocked you out. Jack I’m going to put you on speaker phone okay.”_

By this time Mac had gestured wildly for Matty to come over and Riley had arrived. Matty had managed to gathered at least part of what was happening.

 _“Jack, tell me what we can do to help.”_ Matty said

_“Get me out of here man! I’m gonna god damn die in a plastic box!”_

Riley gasped, her hand over her mouth. She was trying hard not to cry. Matty took the phone out of Mac’s outstretched hand

 _“Now listen here Dalton, you’re not going to die. You are not going to die, you hear me. You are going to keep it together. You are going to help us find you and keep yourself alive until we do. That starts with taking a few deep breaths, you understand me.”_ Matty snapped

 _“Yes mama, yes mama”_ Jack responded, he started breathing over the phone, fast initially, but within a minute or two he sounded calmer.

_“Alright, Riley starting to track this phone signal. It’s got to be coming from somewhere. Mac, grab Bozer and a team and head to Jack’s flat. As you said there might be something, we need to go every inch of that area and Riley get every security camera up from that part of town, every vehicle within the last week. This is an elaborate trap, this is planned, this psycho will have been watching Jack and we need to find him.”_

Matty saw that Mac still hadn’t moved

_“I want to say with Jack.”_

_“Riley, do you have enough to track the phone? Does it have to be here?”_

Riley shook her head, not looking up from her computer screen. Matty sighed but handed the phone over. Mac readily took it and ran off to find Bozer. A confused 20 minutes later, Mac had gathered up a team and Bozer and were the way. Mac and Bozer travelled separately with a team in a van behind. Mac had put Jack on speaker phone again as he raced through town, Bozer was doing his best to keep Jack calm

_“Hey man, we’re all here. We’re doing it, I mean Riley alone, she’ll have that phone down to it’s last component before you know it. She’ll have the seller, the location, everything. Then we’ll come and grab you, it’ll be fine. Mac will make a bomb and I’ll whup this guy’s ass and you’ll be home begging us to watch Die Hard before you know it.”_

Jack laughed weakly over the phone

_“You’ll whup his ass will you Boze? Good to know I’m in safe hands, Bruce Wills movies are a classic. I shouldn’t have to force you to watch them. I’m not forcing you really, I’m educating you.”_

The team made it to Jack’s apartment, Mac took hold of the phone again and gestured for the team to fan out. The tac team went off in multiple directions to look for any kind of clue. Mac and Bozer went to explore, they found Jack’s car parked slightly crooked. They searched all over it, Mac all the while holding the phone out, describing what they were doing, keeping up a steady stream of conversation with Jack occasionally grunted at. They found nothing, they moved onto Jack’s apartment, the team was already in there tearing it apart. Mac stepped through the mess, his eyes scanning the apartment, unsure of what he was looking for. Boser wondered around looking through the wrecked furniture in a similar fashion. Mac kept the phone on speaker the entire

 _“Come on kid, I can hear that big brain of yours working, I know you got something.”_ Jack said over the phone trying to keep the desperation out of his voice

 _“Well, Matty was right Jack, I think someone was watching you, but I don’t think it was necessarily just the street corner. I think it was..”_ Mac said stopping midsentence, he spied what he wanted, a tiny camera inside the wall’s of Jack’s apartment

 _“Got you.”_ Mac said triumphantly yanking the camera out from the line of Jack’s wall

 _“Come on Mac, don’t keep me in suspense Mac, tell me!”_ Jack screeched

 _“I’ve found the camera in your apartment Jack, I’m sure they’ll be more. We’ll get the rest of them and track and then we will find you I promise.”_ Mac said grinning

_“You found a camera? Mac take me off speaker phone.”_

Mac gestured to the men around him to grab the camera and took the phone and went into an empty room

_“What Jack? I’m here, talk to me.”_

_“Look Mac, I mean a camera’s good, great even. But I gotta say something while I still got the oxygen to do it.”_

_“Oxygen, Jack, come on don’t talk like that. From what you’ve described, you’ve at least..”_

Jack cut Mac off mid-sentence

_“Mac, just listen for once. Look, you know I got faith, infinite faith in you. But..” Jack stalled, his voice cracking slightly_

_“You know if I don’t make it.”_

_“Jack please!”_

_“If I don’t make it.. you know serving with you, working with you, best thing that’s ever happened to me. I wouldn’t, you’re brilliant kid, really you are and I wouldn’t change one second of it, other than right now, but you know what I mean.”_

Mac could feel tears coming down his face, he stayed silent though, waiting

_“Tell Bozer to keep my dvd collection safe as it all his. Matty, she’s the scariest boss I’ve ever god damn had and Riley, tell her I’m so prou…”_

_“Tell herself yourself Jack, you can and you will because I’m going to get you out of this.”_

_“Tell Riley I’m so proud of her and I love her. And Mac, my will and all my papers, there in my desk, if I don’t. Can you handle it???”_

_"Jack stop talking like this. You are coming back. I’m going to get you home..Jack??!!”_

But the line had gone dead, Mac cursed in frustration. He raced back into the leaving room and grabbed Bozer. Mac drove in a fury back to the Phoenix, he had to fix this, he was going to let Jack down, he couldn’t lose him, not like this.

_“You know Mr Dalton. That really was a very moving speech, although I have to confess, I didn’t really expect you to give up so easily.”_

Jack screamed as the sing-song voice echoed through the plastic box taunting him once again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter finally! It's been a busy few weeks. Jack is still stuck, swearing and cursing. Mac panics as his friend's situation takes a turn for the worse

_“Jack, Jack! Can you still hear me??”_ Mac called desperately into the phone. Bozer hearing Mac’s yelling came into the room

_“What’s happened?”_

_“We’ve got to back to the Phoenix, I’ve lost Jack’s signal. He’s gone.”_

Bozer nodded and they raced out of the apartment to the car below, Bozer leaving a garbled set of yelled instructions to the soldiers in their wake. The duo came running through the door of the war room

 _“I’ve lost Jack...I’ve lost Jack.”_ Mac said over and over again pushing the phone into Riley’s hand.

Matty cut him off and pointed at the main screen. Mac turned around, having not even registered the picture it when he first arrived. The huge computer screen showed a video live posted online, it showed…Jack in his plastic box, just as he had described it to Mac, glow sticks everywhere, a light at one end, a metal panel on one side. Mac could seed a huge bruise on Dalton’s face and what looked like a now dried up blood trail y. coming from his head at one. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to calm his hammering heart

 _“Riley tell me what we’re seeing here…”_ Matty responded

 _“Um…okay. The signal has been posted on the dark web, so a limited number of people can see it which does potentially narrow down the suspect list. I can check to see if I can find where it’s being boosted from, but it’s being re-routed through so many different IP addresses it’s going to take some time.”_ Riley said choking back a sob

 _“What about the phone? We need to get it back online. We need to track the signal, maybe we can still find that?”_ Matty asked, her voice eerily calm

Mac barely heard the conversation; he was just staring at the video. Dalton was a wreck, he saw a black eye and what looked like a blood streak coming from the back of Jack’s head. There were multiple cameras, one coming from the light end at his feet and another that directly showed up a close of Jack’s face. The earth around the box was packed tight, he looked like he was buried deep underground so, he’d have how many hours left? Mac pushed that thought from his mind. He couldn’t think like that, he wouldn’t. It wouldn’t help Jack and it would send him into a spiral.

 _“Mac?? Are you with us?”_ Matty snapped

And he was back in the room.

_“There’s another even more horrific element to the video….I know, what could be more horrific? There’s a vote…a vote, kill him or keep him?”_

Mac’s jaw dropped

_“I know…I know it’s sick….there’s more…there’s a time limit.”_

Mac stumbled slightly, he’d never been in a position like this before. He and Jack had been in dire straits before, close to death, but never…never so far apart. He’d never been so stuck, so horribly stuck. Jack was in serious trouble and he didn’t know how to save him. Bozer was the one who grabbed him, who stopped him falling to the floor. Then he pushed Mac out of the door ignoring Matty’s yells. Bozer shut the door behind him. They stood against the wall outside, Mac got his breathing under control, but remained silent. Bozer waited, he knew asking what the plan was wouldn’t help him or Jack at this stage.

_“I don’t know what to do…Jack is trapped...God knows where and I’m stuck here and I can’t help. Not even a little bit.”_

_“You’ll find a way Mac, you always do. I know you will.”_

_“And if I don’t Boze, Jack will die.”_

_“Mac look, thinking like that isn’t going to help anyone. So stop…stop I mean it…stop. You gotta think about this like any other assignment…no wait listen. I get it, it’s not. I’m scared too. But the only way we can think of this, is to…I don’t know not think about Jack for a bit. Now tell me, how would you approach this, if it wasn’t Jack?”_

Mac opened and closed his mouth for a few seconds, but then his mighty brain clicked into gear

_“Riley would be the first bit as always, she’d have to track the phone and the video. Trying trace the signal as far back as it would go and that video…I’d have to go over it with a fine tooth comb and look at it from every angle to trying and spot some…something useful in it.”_

_“So that’s what we do.”_

_“Boze..I”_

_“Jack’s my friend too, we’re in this together no matter what and we’ll find him and the person who did this to him”_

_“The camera!!”_

_“What?”_

_  
__“The camera in the apartment..”_  
  
Mac ran back inside and pushed the camera in Riley’s hands with a garbled explanation of what he’d found. She had recovered her own composure and eagerly grabbed the device and got to work literally and metaphorically tearing it apart. Mac turned his eyes back to the screen, Bozer at his side. They pulled it up large and began to look through the video winding the live back and forth again and again looking for something, anything to help Jack.

**

Jack in the meantime got another horrible phone call,

_“Jack…Jack…Jack you really do need to stop screaming. You’ve got to save your energy, save your oxygen…smile for the camera…!”_

_“What the fuck are you talking about??? You psychotic son-of-a-bitch!!”_

_“You’re a TV star now!! The wider world, the wider internet gets to decide your fate because frankly your friends are taking far too long...I thought I would make it interesting….so your are now feeding live to the wider web. Remember smile for the camera!!”_

_“I swear to God! I’m going to kill you, when I get out of here. I’m going to fucking kill you. I’m going you rip you apart I swear to god!”_ Jack screeched

For his pains, the mysterious figure rang off. Jack tried to keep himself calm. Alright so the crazy psycho said he was on camera, that meant another panel, another piece of tech, maybe Mac and the gang could find him that way. God it was hot in here, so hot…the fan, kept turning on and off and the light that was flickering too. What was happening? Had the madman turned the power down? He didn’t know. He had to work it out or work out enough, he had to keep himself alive to wait for rescue.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again a long while since I update this!
> 
> Jack does his best to keep himself to get together and wait. Mac and the team hunt for their friend and come up with a suspect. Matty does her level best to keep everyone together

Jack managed to stop screaming, mostly because he felt the rawness in his throat and he started coughing. God his head ached and pain was shooting through his hands, he had been forced into one position for so long, every time he did try and move a little bit, every twitch and attempted stretch felt like agony. But he did his best to keep it together, his special forces training start to work (rather belatedly he admitted). He forced his mind to calm down and his breathing to slow. Running out of air would help no one. He pushed the pain coursing through his head down, putting it away in a tiny box at the back of his mind to be dealt with later.

He used the light to scan around the box again and his hands, he felt the lines of the box wrenching his arms so he could feel into the corners. He registered a set of rubber gloves that he hadn’t noticed previously and once again the many many glowsticks that were scattered around him. Mac would know what to do with glow sticks, he thought bitterly, he’d know exactly the chemicals that were in them that would aid them at this precise point. Then his boy would dazzle him with some brilliance and then they would have been out of there in no time at all, if Mac had been there of course, but he wasn’t. Jack was on his own. He pushed the wunderkind from his brain and tried to think, he pulled his aching hand up to his face, heavy stubble, so he’d been there roughly 18 maybe 20 hours. He was right he’d be grabbed and drugged heavily after the party. That wouldn’t have given the assailant whoever he or she was time to get far, he would still be in the States (something Jack was pathetically grateful for) and most likely still in California, although out of the city by now.

The mad man behind this clearly knew he was so presumably would know who Mac was too and that they worked together; maybe this was about Mac as well, Mac was after all the reason Jack had escaped death on multiple occasions, although they’d both always been lucky too. Was this a grudge from their army days or something specific to the Phoenix? The elaborateness of something like this screamed Murdoc, but Murdoc wouldn’t hesitate to identify himself and frankly he would prefer to taunt Jack to his face. Maybe one of Murdoc’s many cronies, that was possible for sure. Although the level of crazy involved kind of implied it was personal? Maybe it was specific to Jack after all, that was unlikely really? Who had he pissed off so much to create this monstrosity? It had to be about both of them. The man had said he was on camera, so that meant Mac would be able to see him as well although probably not hear him. Unless the phone wherever it was placed in this box miraculously worked again, the guy behind it was obviously monitoring the signal so could hear it. That would mean Riley would track the signal, so he’d have to try and keep the guy on the line for as long as possible, keep him entertained or at least occupied. Dalton didn’t know how long it could take, but he could at least try. Maybe the guy would be more amenable to light conversation if Jack stopped cursing his name. God it was hot in this thing, memories of flames enveloping him flashed in his mind, he speedily kicked the memory back into the long grass. He just had to focus on breathing and staying alive that was it for now.

**

While Dalton slowed and calmed himself to the best of his abilities. Mac determinedly shut off every emotion in his mind and turns his scientific brain towards the footage in front of him. He skimmed the live feed taking in Jack’s form and the plastic around him. The coffin or box was precise, it fit Jack perfectly and left him very little room to manoeuvre, which implied this was planned, but planned well in advance (the camera also confirmed that). It also suggested that the villain whoever they were knew Jack or had known intimately at one point or another, so perhaps it was a personal vendetta. But as he took in the rest of the box, other parts looked more ‘home made’. The wonky pieces of metal on one side with faints of wiring buried in the dirt looked bashed together as well as the light and fan that had been forced on one end of the box were clumsy in design, this wasn’t some high-class assassin (Murdoc popped into his head), it was someone smaller, more obsessive and more likely to be poor and ill equipped. The plastic box had been the ‘big expense’ that was it. Everything else, the man had built, had tacked on.

Jack also hadn’t been missing for that long. The assailant was unlikely to take a plane anywhere, hiding an unconscious body on a plane would be complicated, trackable and expensive just through the luggage and nothing else. The box was the key at least for now, having something like that so precisely created, to fit someone so perfectly would have cost and there had to be a record of that. Mac left the war room and found one of the main labs where Riley had set herself up, she found that staring at Jack’s trapped form meant she couldn’t concentrate, she kept an eye on the tracker and the video, just not covering her full screen. He explained the theory to Riley and she nodded, pulling yet another laptop in front of her, beginning searches for designs of the box, the right plastic, the shape, the amount of plastic across the state of California.

Very little was said between the two of them, both of them knew the stakes. They didn’t need it going over, Mac and Riley also knew that if they started to talk, one or both of them might break in two. The only acknowledgement of how truly scary the situation was Mac. Before he departed the room, he leaned in close to Riley and put his hand over hers and squeezed her palm, she didn’t look up, but she did squeeze the tips of his fingers in return. Then he departed back to to stare at Jack’s twitching form once again.

Bozer meanwhile had snuck out of the building around to the back next to the bins. He wasn’t running away, he just needed some space separate from the current horror they were dealing with. For all his brave words to Mac, he was terrified too, the idea of Jack not making it was unfathomable to him. Jack, well he was a brilliant guy, funny, weird and he watched over Mac when Bozer couldn’t. Dalton had saved his best friend more times than he could count and well Bozer just liked him, anyway this man who looked out for him, the man with the Bruce Willis obsession, the man who could make Boxer laugh so hard that he would cr. He liked him, it was as simple as that and the idea of him going out like that made him shudder. He leaned against the wall outside and took some deep breaths and shut his eyes. A voice drew him out from beside him

_“Fancy some company?”_

He opened his eyes and there was Matty next to him. He gestured for her to stand next to him

_“It’s a free wall.”_

Matty nodded at him

 _“You doing alright Bozer?_ ” she asked

Bozer swallowed, unsure of how to answer exactly. Fortunately, Webber knew what to say

_“I’m scared too, I’ve known Jack longer than any of you. And for all the stress and pain he’s caused me, I always thought he was kind of invincible. The idea of him going out like that. It’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”_

Boze nodded and lent back against the wall once more, a little shocked that Matty had been so open with him. He coughed a little registering smoke rising, he looked over and to his amazement saw Webber lighting up a cigarette.

_“Horrid habit, I know. I haven’t smoked in years. I guess I wanted something to occupy my hands.”_

Boze coughed again, his eyes widened.

 _“Our little secret?”_ Webber said smiling at him, she said offering him one

He grinned and took one. Boze had smoked in a long time either, Mac’s lectures about health eventually got to him (it just got annoying after a while). Matty pulled a set of matches from somewhere and offered him the box, he managed to just about light one, despite his shaking hands. They finished their cigarettes in silence. As he went back inside with Webber, Bozer launched into what he had been doing

_“I’ve been trying to nail down who this might be, you guys have a long list of enemies. So it’s kind of hard….but I’ve looked back through all Mac and Jack’s files and I’ve gone through them all based on history, age, sentence and basically how grim the crime was. I’m going cross reference it with Riley and her box search and tracking the phone.”_

_“Good now go do it!”_ Webber snapped. Bozer nodded and sped off in search of Riley

 _“We’re coming Jack…just hold on a little longer….we’re coming Jack I promise.”_ Matty murmured to no one in particular 

**

The collective efforts of the trio did in fact prove useful. Between them they managed to find a possible suspect, an ex-army colonel that Dalton and Mac had taken down for fraud and kidnapping in their early days at the Phoenix, Colonel Caldwell. Caldwell had become obsessed with one of his army lieutenants – Max Chambers, kidnapping him and using his details to gain access to his fortune (he came from old New York money). The family eventually realised their son was missing and had tried to go to the police, but they got nowhere. They ended up at the Phoenix because of a military connection to Jack, the missing son had met Jack during basic training and idolised him. He would have been about Mac’s age, maybe a bit younger. But he hadn’t ended up being assigned with Jack in Afghanistan, he ended up with Caldwell. Chambers and Caldwell had been forced together in the sandbox and it had been a nightmare. Caldwell had seen him as weak and undeserving of the money and life he would have back home, Chambers thought Caldwell was bonkers.

It had been a big scandal at the time as Chambers complained about Caldwell and tried to get him removed. The family had hushed it up and Chambers had left the army. Caldwell eventually went out of the army as well. Two years later Chambers went missing and after failing with the police, the family had managed to contact Jack and pleaded with him. Dalton remembered the kid and managed to wangle the help of the Phoenix Foundation. They just about managed to rescue Chambers, half-starved and here was the key part, buried alive. Caldwell had been taken down and Chambers was incredibly grateful, and the day had been saved.

Caldwell did a little bit of time in prison but was ultimately deemed unfit and ended up in a psychiatric ward. That’s where the trail got confusing and messy, he certainly had the motive, but no means. He was at least according to the Phoenix’s knowledge still locked away at the Niall Psychiatric Institute in Arizona. They decided they had to go down there and check because Riley had found a mysterious set of purchases on plastic in an account in the area that could be linked to Jack’s plastic prison, but it was all to vague. But it was the best lead they had. So that was that. It was decided that Bozer and Webber would go to the Institute while Riley and Mac would stay behind. This produced a furious argument, but Webber insisted. At one-point Mac stormed out in a rage, exhausted and sleep deprived as they all were. Webber went after him and found Mac on one of the upper levels. When he saw her approach, he blinked fast, making the rapidly forming tears disappear

_“It should be me, it should be me. He’s my family,…he’s my…if I let something happen to him, I’ll never forgive myself.”_

Webber stood next to Mac aware they were painfully short on time, she cut to the chase

_“I know your history with Jack as well as anyone. I know how important he is…he’s important to all us. But the fact is that this bastard in is interested in both of you, if he calls again, you have to be there to pick up the phone. More importantly Mac you have to be there if Jack calls again, you have to be there to reassure him, to tell him to keep holding on.”_

_“But! I..”_

_“No buts Mac, that’s an order”_

_“Yes...Ma'am”_

_“Mac I know what Jack means to you and I give you my word we will get him out of this. Mac keep the light on that’s all I ask for now… and remind our boy, we’ll bring him home.”_


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the clock ticks away for Jack, Matty and Bozer go visit a man who might be connected to the kidnapping.

Matty and Bozer headed out to the hospital where Caldwell was being kept. Neither of them held out that much hope. He sounded like a deranged lunatic (which he of course was), but what made no sense was how he could have managed it. He’d be locked up for years, if Caldwell really was connected to Jack’s kidnapping how had he pulled off? The relatively short plane ride was conducted in total silence. Webber was running through questions in her mind, Boze was mostly trying to keep the sick feeling out of his stomach. He didn’t think he could help much going with Webber and wasn’t really sure why Matty had taken him with her. The plane ride was followed by a silent car trip to the hospital. It was odd, the route was beautiful. Massive trees in full leaf lined the route and there were vast house seen in the distance, expensive and elaborate. It seemed a strange place for a nutter to live Bozer thought. He eventually got up the courage to ask Matty

_“Why have you even brought me?”_

_“To help with the interrogation”_

_“But why me? I mean wouldn’t Mac or Riley be better? They’ve been doing this much longer than I have.”_

Webber sighed, for all Bozer’s cockiness and charm, he was remarkably lacking in confidence sometimes.

_“I need someone who is objective.”_

_“And that’s me???”_

_“Whether you think so or not, I think it is. Mac is too connected to Dalton as he is with the people in his life that he loves. “_

_“You think I’m not connected to Jack then?”_ Bozer said sounding offended

_“That’s not what I said. You are connected to Jack, but you unlike Mac don’t have a crippling fear of every person you ever cared about abandoning you.”_

Bozer’s jaw dropped at the brutal assessment of Mac’s mental state. Of course she was right, Mac had so many abandonment issues (not without reason) but it was not often that Matty was so straight talking. Dalton had also always been special to Mac, he was the father he never had, he was the one who always told Mac what to do, who had bossed him about (with varying levels of success). Boze knew if Jack didn’t survive something in Mac would snap.

_“Alright, so what are we going to ask this guy?”_

_“You’re not going to ask him anything. I’m going to do the talking and I want you to watch him and see what kind of read you can get off him.”_

_“Okay, I can do that”_

_“Good because it looks like we’re coming up to the main gates now.”_

She was right, the car was driving up to a set of elaborate iron gates which opened in a very creepy too reminiscent of a horror movie sort of way. They were greeted by armed guards followed by a set of orderlies and finally a doctor. Bozer listened fascinated as Webber explained in a minimal but no uncertain terms why they needed to see Caldwell immediately. Matty was always a terrifying sight to behold when she was in the take no prisoners mode, Boze was very happy not to be on the receiving end of it.

It seemed to take forever, but after a much arguing and threatening (on Webber’s part) they managed to get an audience with Caldwell. He sat on the bed straightjacketed (more for their protection than his). He was cross legged and going bald. It was a weird sight because he had all the physicality of a man who had once been in the military, but was being treated with kid gloves as someone who was seriously frail. Two chairs were brought in and placed on the opposite wall. An orderly stood in the corner and a guard waited outside for them. Boze took his seat and did his best to watch Caldwell

_“Colonel Caldwell, my name is Matty Webber. I work for the Phoenix Foundation. I’m here to ask you some questions today.”_

_“I know why you’re here Miss Webber, you’re here to ask me about my ‘so called crimes’”_

_“Why do you call them that? You were tried and convicted.”_

_“Our system is terribly corrupt”_

_“As opposed to positively corrupt?”_

_“Very good Miss Webber”_

_“Now I would like you to answer some questions about Jack Dalton.”_

At the mere mention of Jack’s name Caldwell lurched forward, spitting and angry. The orderly who had been standing on the sidelines moved to grab him and forcibly sit him back down.

_“My apologies Miss Webber, you are not Jack Dalton. You did not put me here.”_

_“No apologies needed. Colonel”_

_“What is that you want to know?”_

_“Have you spoken to Jack Dalton in the years since you’ve been sent here, have you interacted with him in anyway?”_

_“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t”_

_“I would like a direct answer”_

_“Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t”_

_“An answer now.”_

_“What do I get? I like getting presents, can you get me a present Miss Webber. I promise to be ever so good.”_

_“What is that you want?”_

_“A chance to see my family again”_

Webber paused, Caldwell’s wife had long since died. His abusive nature combined with the scandal in the military meant she had killed herself years before. The children had disappeared into the foster system. But Matty was made of steel, she would negotiate with the devil himself if it got her what she wanted.

_“That might be possible, but I’d need to check with my superiors.”_

_“Oh goody, goody. Please ask away”_

Realising that Dalton was a dangerous topic at least for now, Matty changed tact

_“What you did to Max Chambers.”_

_“Ahhh that undeserving boy, so terribly undeserving.”_

_“I’d like you to tell me in detail about how you kidnapped him, how you buried him alive.”_

_“Why do you want to know that Miss Webber”_

_“It’s part my investigation.”_

_“You’re going to have give me more information than that”_

Webber took a deep breath

_“Jack Dalton is missing and we think it may be related to your case.”_

_“Oh Goody, my boy, my brilliant boy! Is Jack dead?”_

_“Answer my question!”_

_“Jack Dalton’s dead! Jack Dalton’s dead!!! The other one will be gone sooner enough, wooh! Jack Dalton’s dead !”_

_“If you want to see your children again Caldwell you’ll answer my questions.”_

At this point Caldwell fell backwards laughing and wiggling his legs in the air. The orderly came forward again

_“Guys, I think you should leave. He’s becoming agitated.”_

_“But!”_

_“Please leave now.”_

Webber ground her teeth together but got up to leave and gestured for Bozer to follow, the guard who stood outside opened the door and followed them out. They walked along the white corridor, Bozer could see steam coming out of Matty’s ears so brave as ever decided to try and speak and calm her

_“Now I know this didn’t exactly go as planned”_

_“Planned, Bozer, planned! He gave me nothing! My god, he’s a psychotic monster!”_

_“Yes I agree, but I actually think I might have something.”  
_

_Webber stared at him and raised an eyebrow_

_“I’m listening.”_

_“Oh okay…well listening to him. Yes he is an absolute nut job, no argument from me at all. Listening to him, it’s like a fast track to crazy town. But one thing he said to me did strike me. The whole reference to my boy, my brilliant boy. I mean he could just be talking about himself in the third person…but I thought maybe it was a reference to his kids? Is one of his kids behind this? Didn’t their lives get wrecked by this too?”_

Matty stared at Bozer

_“I think you’re actually right, of course his sons. They disappeared long ago, but it’s possible? But why capture Jack? He rescued them didn’t they? Both him and Mac pulled their father away from them?”_

_“I don’t know maybe it’s nothing. I just thought, someone takes away the only father you know even if he’s like an abusive bastard. Maybe you’d hate the person enough to do it? And I mean didn’t the guy sound ridiculously proud? Like he’d taught them or something?”_

Matty grinned at Bozer and got on the phone

_“Riley, I think we might have something. The interview was a bust, but I think Caldwell might have given us something unintentionally. Bozer and I might stick around a little while to talk to him more…”_

Webber did not get an opportunity to finish her sentence. An almighty explosion kicked off behind them, the wave of the blast threw both Matt and Boze forward 20 ft. Bits of the walls came down and fire was coming out of the room. Bozer was knocked out cold and covered in dust. Matty remained cognitive for a few minutes more, but then a piece of the ceiling came down and hit on the head and she dropped, her phone still clutched in her hand.


End file.
